Entre 1780 et 1860 en Europe, la géographie se structure peu à peu en champ scientifique et académique indépendant, et particulièrement en France, Prusse et Grande-Bretagne. Au même moment dans ces trois pays européens, des géographes travaillent à ce que leur champ soit enfin considéré comme une science à part entière, au même titre par exemple que l'histoire ou les mathématiques. Ils construisent leur champ à la faveur d'un renouvellement profond de ses principes institutionnels et épistémologiques, selon un processus similaire dans ces trois sphères. Ils organisent progressivement les connaissances géographiques selon une exigence de scientificité, dont ils discutent les modalités. Ce processus de construction à la fois scientifique et disciplinaire est profondément marqué par l'héritage des Lumières et l'esprit universaliste, mais, parallèlement, il se trouve également influencé et informé par le contexte politique. Entre 1785 et 1860, les savoirs géographiques sont en effet investis d'une valeur stratégique grandissante : ils jouent un rôle majeur dans les idéologies politiques des États et également dans les actions politiques menées. En interrogeant conjointement les champs du politique et des savoirs géographiques, cette thèse ainsi à mettre en évidence en quoi le processus de montée en discipline des savoirs géographiques engagé simultanément en France, en Prusse et en Grande-Bretagne se trouve fondamentalement en tension entre, d'une part, une exigence universaliste portée à l'échelle européenne par le champ scientifique et, d'autre part, la nationalisation progressive des savoirs géographiques. / Between 1780 et 1860, geography tends to become a full scientific field in Europe, built thanks to renewed institutional and academic principles, especially in France, Prussia and Great Britain. t the same time in these three European countries, geographers expect that their field will be finally considered as a proper science, compared for instance to history or mathematics. In order to complete this aim, they gradually organise geographical knowledge according to scientific patterns. The French, Prussian and British spheres are affected by a similar process. This scientific and academic construction of a proper geographical field is influenced by a universalistic spirit, inherited from the European Enlightenment, but also deeply affected by the political context. Between 1785 and 1860, geographical knowledge is recognised as strategic : it plays a major role in the politics of the states and, therefore, in the organisation of the different policies developed in this period. By questionning at the same time the field of geography and the field of politics and policy, this thesis intends to highlight how the process of academic and scientific construction of geography engaged at the same time in France, Prussia and Great-Britain is essentially in a position of tension between a demand of universalism and the progressiv nationalisation of geographical knowledge.

Environmental issues are often complex with many different constituents operating according to a broad range of communication techniques. In order to foster negotiations, different perspectives need to be articulated in lucid ways sensitive to various viewpoints and circumstances. In my thesis I investigate how certain approaches to environmental discourse effect dialogue and negotiation. My first two chapters focus on environmental problems surrounding rangeland ecology along the U.S./Mexico border; whereas the last two chapters explore more theoretical conflicts concerning the philosophy of nature. Throughout the thesis I show the significance of nonhumans (prairie dogs, cattle, biological assessment sheets, environmental laws, etc.) in the human community. Only by considering the roles of nonhumans do we broaden and enrich the conversation between ourselves concerning environmental issues.

La tradition sociologique oppose généralement deux thèses : individualiste et holiste. Ces caractérisations laissent entendre que la première thèse s’attarde à l’action des individus pour expliquer la société. Ce style s’est développé surtout en Allemagne grâce à Max Weber. La thèse holiste prend une position plus globale en expliquant la société par des faits sociaux. Celle-ci est dite française par l’entremise du père de la sociologie, Émile Durkheim. Pourtant, plusieurs auteurs français ont snobé la tradition allemande pour ramener à l’avant-scène un compatriote qui s’est opposé à Durkheim : Gabriel Tarde. Ces réintroductions ont été produites pour s’opposer aux thèses durkheimiennes qui laisseraient l’individu victime du contexte social dans lequel il se trouve. La sociologie allemande propose déjà une opposition de ce type avec les théories postulant un objet réel et particulier à la sociologie. Pourquoi réintroduire un auteur disparu en sociologie pour prendre la place d’autres qui sont encore là? L’hypothèse serait que Tarde propose un individualisme différent qui se traduirait par une notion d’individu particulière. L’étude comparative du corpus durkheimien et tardien révèle pourtant que ces deux auteurs partagent la plupart des caractéristiques associées à la définition du sens commun de l’individu. L’opposition entre Durkheim et Tarde ne relève pas de la place de l’individu dans la science sociale, mais d’une interprétation différente de certains aspects de la théorie statistique. Ces théories sociales ont été construites grâce à cette notion ce qui laisse penser que certains des problèmes explicatifs de ces dernières pourraient être liés à cette base. / The sociological tradition generally opposes two theses: individualism and holism. The individualist wants to explain society through the actions of its actors. It has been upheld by the German tradition with Max Weber at its head. On the other hand, the holist thesis tries to explain society from above through social facts. The French sociology is central here with Emile Durkheim as its forefather. Despite this antagonism, some French authors have felt the need to reintroduce a forgotten figure from their past: Gabriel Tarde. German sociology already embodied the individualistic view, why then revitalize an old adversary of Durkheim? The working hypothesis was that Tarde might have some very good and different insight on the definition of what the individual needed to be. The comparative study of Tarde’s and Durkheim’s work demonstrates that it isn’t so. They share the same basic common sense definition of the notion of individual. Their opposition was based on some interpretation of statistical theory for sociology. This conclusion points toward the possibility that this notion is the basis for the theorization of sociology which might be a major source of its explanatory problems.

O desenvolvimento expressivo das Neurociências, verificado a partir dos anos 1990, tem implicado a disseminação de seus estilos de pensamento tanto para além do mundo acadêmico, na cultura popular, quanto em disciplinas científicas que, em princípio, não teriam relação com esse campo. Em decorrência disso, áreas de pesquisa híbridas têm se constituído, tais como o campo de interlocuções entre Neurociências e Educação – foco do presente estudo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar de que forma tem ocorrido a constituição dessa nova área, atentando para os estilos de pensamento que têm se formado a partir desse diálogo interdisciplinar. Para tanto, foram analisados trabalhos acadêmicos produzidos nesse novo campo de interlocuções e entrevistados pesquisadores envolvidos com a produção de conhecimento nesse campo. A análise dos dados obtidos foi desenvolvida com base no referencial dos Estudos da Ciência, levando em conta principalmente as contribuições clássicas de Ludwik Fleck, atualizadas por pesquisadores contemporâneos. A partir da pesquisa realizada, foi formulada a tese de que as interlocuções entre Educação e Neurociências não constituem um empreendimento determinista ou reducionista, como advogam alguns de seus críticos: pelo contrário, pesquisadores da área postulam que a adequada compreensão do sistema nervoso deve levar em conta as interações constantemente estabelecidas entre biologia e ambiente. Além disso, esses pesquisadores têm procurado dialogar com teorias tradicionais da Educação, além de reconhecer a necessidade de aproximação com os sujeitos envolvidos nas práticas educativas, como os professores. A aproximação da Educação às Neurociências é aqui entendida como um processo próprio do campo da pesquisa educacional, que se caracteriza pelo entrecruzamento de práticas, políticas e saberes formulados em diferentes disciplinas científicas. Contudo, foi verificado que, no campo de interlocuções entre Educação e Neurociências, ainda há dificuldades no sentido de produzir trabalhos empíricos que conjuguem teorias e metodologias de ambas as áreas: a maior parte dos trabalhos analisados é composta por estudos bibliográficos, que procuram mostrar a potencialidade da aproximação entre os campos, mas avançam pouco no sentido de produzir pesquisas efetivamente interdisciplinares. Essa dificuldade é compreendida nesta tese como sintomática da própria cisão – criticada por muitos autores analisados – entre natureza e cultura e entre Ciências Biológicas e Ciências Humanas, o que mostra que essa divisão ainda surte efeitos contundentes nos processos de produção de conhecimento de ambas as áreas. / The significant development of Neuroscience, seen from the 1990’s onward, has resulted in the dissemination of styles of thought of this field from the academic world into popular culture and into scientific areas that initially are not related to it. Thus, hybrid research areas have been constituted, such as the field of interlocutions between Neuroscience and Education – focused by this study. The goal of this thesis is to analyze how the formation of this new area has taken place, focusing on thinking styles that have developed through this interdisciplinary dialogue. For this purpose, academic papers produced in this new area were analyzed, and researchers involved in this field were interviewed. The analysis was conducted based on the references in Science Studies, especially considering the classic contributions from Ludwik Fleck, updated by contemporary researchers. Based on the conducted research, a thesis was formulated that the interlocutions between Education and Neuroscience do not constitute a deterministic or reductionist enterprise as a few critics advocate: on the contrary, researchers in the area postulate that a suitable understanding of the nervous system should take the interactions constantly established between biology and environment into account. Furthermore, these researchers have sought to engage in a dialogue with traditional theories of Education, in addition to recognizing the need for approaching subjects involved in educational practices, such as teachers. The approximation between Education and Neuroscience is understood here as a process that is unique to the branch of educational research, which is based on the knowledge formulated in different areas. However, it was noted that there are still difficulty producing empirical works at the intersection between Education and Neuroscience, uniting theories and methodologies from both fields; most analyzed works consist of bibliographical studies. The difficulty conducting empirical studies at this intersection is understood in this thesis as a symptom of the schism – criticized by many analyzed authors – between nature and culture and between Biological Sciences and Human Sciences. / El desarrollo expresivo de las Neurociencias, verificado a partir de los años 1990, viene implicando la diseminación de estilos de pensamiento de esa área tanto para más allá del mundo académico, en la cultura popular, como en disciplinas científicas que, en principio, no tendrían relación con ella. Así, se vienen constituyendo áreas de investigaciones híbridas, tales como el campo de interlocuciones entre Neurociencias y Educación – enfoque del presente estudio. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar de qué forma ocurre la constitución de esa nueva área, con enfoque en los estilos de pensamiento que se vienen formando a partir de ese diálogo interdisciplinario. Para tanto, se analizaron trabajos académicos producidos en esa nueva área y fueron entrevistados investigadores involucrados con ese campo. El análisis fue desarrollado con base en el referencial de los Estudios de la Ciencia, llevando en consideración principalmente las contribuciones clásicas de Ludwik Fleck, actualizadas por investigadores contemporáneos. A partir de la investigación desarrollada, fue formulada la tesis de que las interlocuciones entre Educación y Neurociencias no constituyen un emprendimiento determinista o reduccionista, como abogan algunos de sus críticos: por el contrario, investigadores del área postulan que la adecuada comprensión del sistema nervioso debe llevar en consideración las interacciones constantemente establecidas entre biología y ambiente. Además, esos investigadores vienen intentando dialogar con teorías tradicionales de la Educación, además de reconocer la necesidad de aproximación con los sujetos involucrados en las prácticas educativas, como los profesores. La aproximación de la Educación a las Neurociencias es aquí entendida como un proceso característico del campo de la investigación educacional, que se basa en saberes formulados en diferentes áreas. Sin embargo, se verificó que también hay dificultades en el sentido de producir trabajos empíricos en la intersección entre Educación y Neurociencias, conjugando teorías y metodologías de ambas áreas; la mayor parte de los trabajos analizados está compuesta por estudios bibliográficos. La dificultad en producir investigaciones empíricas en esa intersección se comprende en esta tesis como sintomática de la propia escisión – criticada por muchos autores analizados – entre naturaleza y cultura y entre Ciencias Biológicas y Ciencias Humanas.

<p> </p><p>This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning. </p><p>Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject. </p><p>The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning. Approximately half of the group of teachers, who answered the questionnaire, expressed that their school has a local syllabus, but only a few of these state that they find this document important for their planning. The interviews, however, showed that these documents were regarded as very important by the teachers using them. The teachers also claimed that too little time was set aside for working with the local and the national syllabus.</p><p>The study also showed that goals to strive for were considered most important and influential on the teacher’s design of lessons in science. The teachers however expressed that they find these goals hard to understand and pursue.</p><p>The results also show that when working on goals to strive for, discussions in groups, experiments and observations were the most used methods.  </p>

This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning.  Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject.  The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning. Approximately half of the group of teachers, who answered the questionnaire, expressed that their school has a local syllabus, but only a few of these state that they find this document important for their planning. The interviews, however, showed that these documents were regarded as very important by the teachers using them. The teachers also claimed that too little time was set aside for working with the local and the national syllabus. The study also showed that goals to strive for were considered most important and influential on the teacher’s design of lessons in science. The teachers however expressed that they find these goals hard to understand and pursue. The results also show that when working on goals to strive for, discussions in groups, experiments and observations were the most used methods.

La tradition sociologique oppose généralement deux thèses : individualiste et holiste. Ces caractérisations laissent entendre que la première thèse s’attarde à l’action des individus pour expliquer la société. Ce style s’est développé surtout en Allemagne grâce à Max Weber. La thèse holiste prend une position plus globale en expliquant la société par des faits sociaux. Celle-ci est dite française par l’entremise du père de la sociologie, Émile Durkheim. Pourtant, plusieurs auteurs français ont snobé la tradition allemande pour ramener à l’avant-scène un compatriote qui s’est opposé à Durkheim : Gabriel Tarde. Ces réintroductions ont été produites pour s’opposer aux thèses durkheimiennes qui laisseraient l’individu victime du contexte social dans lequel il se trouve. La sociologie allemande propose déjà une opposition de ce type avec les théories postulant un objet réel et particulier à la sociologie. Pourquoi réintroduire un auteur disparu en sociologie pour prendre la place d’autres qui sont encore là? L’hypothèse serait que Tarde propose un individualisme différent qui se traduirait par une notion d’individu particulière. L’étude comparative du corpus durkheimien et tardien révèle pourtant que ces deux auteurs partagent la plupart des caractéristiques associées à la définition du sens commun de l’individu. L’opposition entre Durkheim et Tarde ne relève pas de la place de l’individu dans la science sociale, mais d’une interprétation différente de certains aspects de la théorie statistique. Ces théories sociales ont été construites grâce à cette notion ce qui laisse penser que certains des problèmes explicatifs de ces dernières pourraient être liés à cette base. / The sociological tradition generally opposes two theses: individualism and holism. The individualist wants to explain society through the actions of its actors. It has been upheld by the German tradition with Max Weber at its head. On the other hand, the holist thesis tries to explain society from above through social facts. The French sociology is central here with Emile Durkheim as its forefather. Despite this antagonism, some French authors have felt the need to reintroduce a forgotten figure from their past: Gabriel Tarde. German sociology already embodied the individualistic view, why then revitalize an old adversary of Durkheim? The working hypothesis was that Tarde might have some very good and different insight on the definition of what the individual needed to be. The comparative study of Tarde’s and Durkheim’s work demonstrates that it isn’t so. They share the same basic common sense definition of the notion of individual. Their opposition was based on some interpretation of statistical theory for sociology. This conclusion points toward the possibility that this notion is the basis for the theorization of sociology which might be a major source of its explanatory problems.

During the 1990's an increased debate concerning a new way of funding, organising and doing research is discernible. Characteristic elements in this are: collaboration between university and industry, context of application, user orientation and interdisciplinarity. A parallel development related to the environmental issues can also be distinguished, where the discourse of sustainable development has become the dominating political vision. How these changing contexts affect and influence a funding agency is analysed in this thesis. The source for the analysis is the Foundation of strategic environmental research, Mistra. Mistra was established in 1994 aiming at a renewal of Swedish environmental research, in which contributing to the vision of sustainable development is a central goal. Other characteristic objectives in Mistra are: solution orientation, user involvement, interdisciplinarity, and contributing to the competitiveness of Sweden. The main purpose of the thesis is to analyse ideas and notions about science and knowledge concerning the environmental problematic as viewed in Mistra. A specific interest is also directed to views and notions of the role of science in contemporary society. The main conclusion concerns awareness of epistemological issues in Mistra regarding different forms of knowledge and ways of doing research. This is especially apparent in the discussion related to evaluation of research, interdisciplinary, social sciences and user involvement. Moreover, I stress that this tendency also could be recognized in theories of knowledge production. Understanding Mistra as an example of contemporary knowledge production the post-positivist notions of knowledge, which is particularly argued for in theory of Mode 2, is therefore questioned. Consequently, issues of prerequisites and conditions of the occurrence of reflexivity and post-positivist epistemological thoughts are stressed and epistemological notions mirrored in contemporary knowledge production are discussed using the two concepts of unreflected ambivalence.

Subjects designated by the neologism 'disability' typically experience various forms of marginality, discrimination and inequality. The response by social scientists and professionals engaged in social policy and service delivery has been to combat the 'disability problem' by way of implementing anti-discrimination protections and various other compensatory initiatives. More recently, with the development of biological and techno-sciences such as 'new genetics', nanotechnologies and cyborgs the solution to 'disability' management has been in the form of utilizing technologies of early detection, eradication or at best, technologies of mitigation. Contemporary discourses of disablement displace and disconnect discussion away from the 'heart of the problem', namely, matters ontological. Disability - based marginality is assumed to emerge from a set of pre-existing conditions (i.e. in the case of biomedicalisation, deficiency inheres in the individual, whilst in the Social Model disablement is created by a capitalist superstructure). The Great Divide takes an alternative approach to studying 'the problem of disability' by proposing that the neologism 'disability' is in fact created by and used to generate notions and epistemologies of 'ableism'. Whilst epistemologies of disablement are well researched, there is a paucity of research related to the workings of ableism. The focal concerns of The Great Divide relate to matters of ordering, disorder and constitutional compartmentalization between the normal and pathological and the ways that discourses about wholeness, health, enhancement and perfection produce notions of impairment. A central argument of this dissertation figures the production of disability as part of the tussle over ordering, emerging from a desire to create order from an assumed disorder; resulting in a flimsy but often unconvincing attempt to shore up so-called optimal ontologies and disperse outlaw ontologies. The Great Divide examines ways 'disability' rubs up against, mingles with and provokes other seemingly unrelated concepts such as wellness, ableness, perfection, competency, causation, productivity and use value. The scaffolding of the dissertation directs the reader to selected sites that produce epistemologies of disability and ableism, namely the writing of 'history' and Judeo-Christian renderings of Disability. It explores the nuances of ableism (including a case study of wrongful life torts in law) and the phenomenon of internalized ableism as experienced by many disabled people. The study of liberalism and the government of government are explored in terms of enumeration, the science of 'counting cripples' and the battles over defining 'disability' in law and social policy. Additionally another axis of ableism is explored through the study of a number of perfecting technologies and the way in which these technologies mediate what it means to be 'human' (normalcy), morphs/simulates 'normalcy' and the leakiness of 'disability'. This analysis charts the invention of forearms transplantation (a la Clint Hallam), the Cochlear implant and transhumanism. The Great Divide concludes with an inversion of the ableist gaze(s) by proposing an ethic of affirmation, a desiring ontology of impairment.

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 233-248. / Academic vessels: STS and HPS -- SSK : scientism as empirical relativism -- Latour and actor-network-theory -- Tensions and dilemmas in science studies -- Kuhn - paradigm of an uncritical turn -- Critical theory of technology: Andrew Feenberg -- Critical theory and science studies: Jürgen Habermas -- Concluding remarks: normativity and synthesis. / Science Studies is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship comprising two different traditions, the philosophical History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) and the sociological Science and Technology Studies (STS). The elementary tension between the two is based on their differing scholarly values, one based on philosophy, the other on sociology. This tension has been both animating the field of Science Studies and complicating its internal self-understanding. --This thesis sets out to reconstruct the main episodes in the history of Science Studies that have come to formulate competing constructions of the cultural value and meaning of science and technology. It tells a story of various failed efforts to resolve existing antimonies and suggests that the best way to grapple with the complexity of the issues at stake is to work towards establishing a common ground and dialogue between the rival disciplinary formations: HPS and STS. --First I examine two recent theories in Science Studies, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Both of them are found to be inadequate as they share a distorted view of the HPS-STS divide and both try to colonise the sociology of science with the tools of HPS. The genesis of this colonizing impulse is then traced back to the Science Wars which again is underpinned by a lack of clarity about the HPS-STS relationship. This finding further highlights the responsibility of currently fashionable theories such as ANT that have contributed to this deficit of understanding and dialogue. / This same trend is then traced to the work of Thomas Kuhn. He is credited with moderate achievements but recent re-evaluations of his work point to his culpability in closing the field to critical possibilities, stifling the sociological side and giving rise to a distorted view of the HPS-STS relationship as seen in SSK and ANT. Now that the origins of the confused and politically divided state of Science Studies is understood, there is the urgent task of re-establishing a balance and dialogue between the HPS and the STS sides. --I use two important theoretical threads in critical theory of science and technology to bring clarity to the study of these interrelated yet culturally distinct practices. Firstly I look at the solid line of research established by Andrew Feenberg in the critical theory of technology that uses social constructivism to subvert the embedded values in the technical code and hence democratize technology. --Secondly I look at the work of Jürgen Habermas's formidable Critical Theory of science that sheds light on the basic human interests inside science and technology and establishes both the limits and extent to which social constructivism can be used to study them. --Together Feenberg and Habermas show the way forward for Science Studies, a way to establish a common ground that enables close scholarly dialogue between HPS and STS yet understands and maintains the critical difference between the philosophical and the sociological approaches that prevents them from being collapsed into one indistinguishable entity. Together they can restore the HPS-STS balance and through their shared emancipatory vision for society facilitate the bringing of science and technology into a democratic societal oversight, correcting the deficits and shortcomings of recent theories in the field of Science Studies. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / vii, 248 p